Ashton-Paet phone talk on events in Kiev a slap in Ukraine’s face

KIEV, March 06 /ITAR-TASS/. The leaked telephone talk between Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, during which they discussed events in Kiev’s Independence Square (known as Maidan) is a slap in Ukraine’s face, MP Vadim Kolesnichenko of the Party of Regions said on Thursday, March 6.

“The very fact that such a conversation took place is a slap in the face of the whole Ukrainian society. We were shown that Ukraine was used as a banana republic and a puppet of the West. And they are so cynical as to admit that [we] should hold out a couple of more weeks and then everything will go the way they want,' Kolesnichenko said.

In his opinion, it is necessary to set up an international commission to investigate the events in Independence Square. “A fair international assessment of the events must be made because there were too many coincidences. The scenario was very much similar to those used in other countries. The Maidan blood is not only on the authorities but also on the hands of [UDAR (Punch) Party leader Vitali] Klitschko, [Svoboda (Freedom) Party leader Oleg] Tyagnibok and [head of the Batkivshchina (Fatherland) party’s faction in the national parliament Arseny] Yatsenyuk. They are also responsible for the separatism, bloodshed and destabilisation,' he said.

During their phone talk, Ashton and Paet discussed, among other things, the snipers who were shooting at people during the protests in Kiev.

“There must be an investigation into what happened in Ukraine. Many people want an independent investigation to be carried out in Ukraine. The crimes committed at Maidan need to be investigated and those responsible must face penalties,” the minister said.

Paet regretted that the conversations like his phone talks with Ashton “reach those who are not supposed to hear them.'

“There have appeared distorted versions of the recording, the purpose of which is to discredit the Ukrainian government,' Paet added.

The Estonian Foreign Ministry confirmed the authenticity of Paet’s telephone conversation with Ashton.

During the conversation, Paet said that “there is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not [Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovich, but it was somebody from the new coalition.”

He stressed that “all the evidence shows” that the “same snipers” at Maidan were shooting at people from both sides - the police and the protesters.

Ashton reacted by saying: “Well, yea that’s, that’s terrible” and notred that the issue was worth investigating. “I think we do want to investigate. I mean, I didn’t pick that up, that’s interesting. Gosh,' she said.

Paet recalled that the phone talks with Ashton had taken place last week upon his return from Kiev. “At that time I was already in Estonia,' he added.

The minister said it was “really disturbing” that the new coalition government did not want to investigate what exactly happened.'

The Estonian minister also said it was “quite disturbing” that “this same Olga [Bogomolets] told as well that all the evidence shows that the people who were killed by snipers from both sides, among policemen and then people from the streets, that they were the same snipers killing people from both sides.' she then also showed me some photos she said that as a medical doctor she can say that it is the same handwriting, the same type of bullets, and it’s really disturbing that now the new coalition, that they don’t want to investigate what exactly happened,' Paet said.

He believes that the evidence “discredits from the very beginning' Ukraine’s new leadership.

Paet said people did not trust those who had made up the coalition because of their tainted past and noted that only Pyotr Poroshenko had authority among his fellow citizens.

The Estonian minister spoke of pressure on MPs and recalled an incident in which one of them had been beaten before the parliament building.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said this was surprising. “We have noted online recordings. The EU’s refusal to comment is surprising. In fact, just recently EU officials actively commented on U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland’s phone talk,' the ministry said.

Its comment posted on Facebook earlier said: “It turns out that the European Union knows that the opposition was behind the snipers at Maidan.